'Shredding the Constitutiion'' versus "that duck hunting accident."

Posted October 3, 2008 7:00 AM

by Mark Silva

It's a side-note now, in the aftermath of the debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. But it's still worth noting:

Asked what is the worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as vice president (and also the best thing), Palin and Biden had some very different responses in those series of interviews they conducted with CBS' Katie Couric. The response was aired last night.

Biden: "Shredding the Constitution.''

Palin: "The duck-hunting accident."

For the full take on it all, see the transcript, courtesy of CBS Evening News:

COURIC: What previous Vice President impresses you the most and why?

PALIN: Oh my goodness. It would have to be --Vice President--just a candidate, and that would have to have been Geraldine Ferraro, of course. That's an easy one for me because she's--she's the one who first shattered part of that glass ceiling anyway in American politics. So it would be she as a candidate.

COURIC: What about as an actual Vice President if you had to name one?

PALIN: My goodness. I think those who have gone on to the Presidency--George Bush Sr, having --kind of learned the ropes in his position as VP and then moving on up.

BIDEN: Lyndon Johnson. For all the foibles he had as President--in people's minds--he really knew how the system worked. He was able to be a significant facilitator of a--new frontier. New policy. People in the Congress knew him, knew he knew a lot. And so I hope one of my roles as Vice President will be as the person actually implementing Barack Obama's policy. You gotta get the Congress to go along with it. And I--presumptuous to say, but I know it pretty well. And I think I am fairly respected on both sides of the aisle.

COURIC (to Biden): What do you think is the best and worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as Vice President?

BIDEN: I'm not being a wise guy here about I don't know what he's done. I mean, there's not many things I'd pick that I thought he's done that have been good. But I admire his strength. I admire his willingness to take positions that are completely contrary to popular opinion. But I think that what he's done has been just--I don't think Dick Cheney trusts that the American people can make judgments that are in the interest of the country. But I think the thing I think he's really really think he's done. I think he's done more harm than any other single elected official in memory in terms of shredding the constitution. You know --condoning torture. Pushing torture as a policy. This idea of a unitary executive. Meaning the Congress and the people have no power in a time of war. And the President controls everything//I don't have any animus toward Dick Cheney but I really do think his attitude about the constitution and the prosecution of this war has been absolutely wrong.

PALIN: Worst thing I guess that would have been the duck hunting accident--where you know, that was an accident. And I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate. So the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's, I respect that.

COURIC: What's your favorite movie and why?

BIDEN: Chariots of Fire, is I think probably my favorite movie. But the truth of the matter is the thing about it there it's a place where someone put personal fame and glory behind principles. And you know, that to me, is the mark of real heroism, um when someone would do that.

COURIC: Do you remember your favorite scene from that movie?

BIDEN: I think the favorite scene is when he is making the decision and talking to his about do I do this? What do I do? He so desperately wanted to run, but concluded he couldn't.

BIDEN: It was that, you know, that moment of decision, I think that was my favorite scene. I also like the scene on the beach where you know he's just running

PALIN: I love those old sports movies, like Hoosiers, and Rudy, um, those that show that the underdog can make it and it's all about tenacity, and work ethic and determination, and just doing the right thing, so it would probably be one of those two old sports movies.

COURIC: Do you have a favorite scene from either of them?

PALIN: At the very end, the victories! Yeah! Rudy, where he gets to run out on the field and he gets to participate and make a difference. And then in Hoosiers, when they win.

Comments

It is really interesting to hear the call ins this morning on Washington Journal. They are discussing who won the VP debate.

Obama has to call McCain on the Maverick handle.
I think it would go over extremely well if he said something like;
ENOUGH! Enough of this Maverick retoric. It's like an anorexic looking into the mirror and saying they are overweight. Titles are given and according to the latest poll, Thank God the American voter is not buying into this nonsense.

Apparently Cheney has been showing Palin his Top Secret Version of the Constitution, the one where the Vice President has powers that extend beyond breaking ties in the Senate and waiting for the President to die. But those powers are so Top Secret Palin can't tell us what they actually are.

After President Obama is reelected in a few weeks, the fellow is going to have a tough time trying to figure out what to say.

At the present time, naturally, he is told by his handlers what to say.

Yet after President Obama is reelected in a few weeks, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Senator Durbin...

all of these folks are going to have a problem putting basic sentences together.

This is because NONE of these people can actually craft a sentence that does not contain the words "George Bush." Or "Bush Policies."

A few FACTS for the Bush haters:

1. 2001-April, the Bush administration, in its 2002 budget proposal, asserted that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a "potential problem," and that financial trouble in these Government Sponsored Entities, or GSEs, could "cause strong repercussions in financial markets."

2. 2003, autumn, the Bush administration pushed Congress to create a new federal agency to regulate and supervise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

On 2003-Sep-10, then-Treasury Secretary John Snow, before the House Financial Services Committee, " We need a strong, world-class regulatory agency to oversee the prudential operations of the GSEs, and the safety, and the soundness of their financial activities."

On the same day, 2003-Sep-10, at the same hearing, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee Congressman Barney Frank (now chairman of the same committee) said in response, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not in a crisis. The more people, in my judgement, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjur up the possibility of serious financial losses, to the Treasury, which I do not see, I think we see entities which are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios, and even if there were a problem the federal government doesn't bail them out. But the more pressure there is there, the less I think we see in terms of affordable housing."

The legislation the Bush administration put forward that day was blocked.

3. Alan Greenspan, 2005-Sep-17, to the House Financial Services Committee, on Fannie/Freddie, "Enabling these institutions to increase in size--they they will once the crisis in their judgement passess--we are placing the total financial system of the future at substantial risk."

4. Alan Greenspan, 2006-Apr-6, "If we fail to strengthen GSE regulation we increase the possibility of insolvency and crisis."

The same day, Democratic Senator Chuck Schummer, "I think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the years has done a good job and are an intrinsic part of making America the best-housed people in the world. If you look over the last 20 or whatever years, they have done a very, very, good job."

5. Senate floor, 2006-May-25, John McCain, "For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market... the GSEs need to be reformed without delay." In the Senate Banking Committee, the Fannie/Freddie reform legislation that McCain cosponsored, 100% of the Republicans voted FOR it, and 100% of the Democrats, including Chuck Schummer and Chris Dodd, voted AGAINST it. This bill that passed the Banking Committee on a straight party-line voted was blocked by Democrats from passing the full Senate. Senator Obama was silent on this legislation.

6. 2008-Sep-25, former President Clinton indicated he AGREED with Fox News assertions that Democrats are responsible for failure to rein in Fannie/Freddie--Bill Clinton told ABC's Chris Cuomo that for years, Democrats have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

Let's move on with the Katie Couric's interview, shall we? Why don't we talk about the instance when Sarah Palin countered Joe Biden about Obama's plan for Iraq, calling it a plan to surrender, and Biden remained quiet, apparently agreeing with that assessment.

Gosh, Paul. You totally forget 2002-2003 as Bush pushes "The Ownership Society" and urges subprime loans so everyone can own a home. This helped create the housing bubble, and it's those subprime loans that popped it.

Both McCain and Palin are correct in saying that McCain has a history of being a maverick. Unfortunately, his history is just that -- HISTORY. I'd have agreed with him and supported him if McCain v2000 were running for office, but that version has long since been retired for one that agrees with the Bush Administration wholeheartedly and has voted with it 95% of the time.

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